Let's start talking Best Album of 2007.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

Beirut - The Flying Club Cup

 

My first impression was the vocal style and delicate string feel of Final Fantasy + the Eastern sounds of Camper Van Beethoven. Turns out that Owen Pallett was the arranger, so I guess I was pretty much on the mark. I like it, yeah, but I listened to a lot of Final Fantasy and Andrew Bird in August, so that cloying dainty feel is getting to be a little much. "Un Dernier Verre" is pretty neat in that dissonant way.

 

Looks like I need to get this LCD Soundsystem!

[The Man in Blak 0]

Okay, I lied. I gave 2007 some attention on the last couple of commutes and I think I can put what I've heard into tiers, with some comments sprinkled throughout.

 

The Contenders:

- Deerhoof, Friend Opportunity

Finally, the band stumbles onto the grand unification theory of its various tendencies and releases a cohesive and memorable album from start to finish. There's no "Wrong Time Capsule" on here, but "The Perfect Me" comes pretty damn close and the rest of the album is leaps and bounds above the remainders that comprise much of their earlier material. My personal favorite for the year.

 

- Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam

Impossibly bizarre, but compelling, as always. I need to check out the solo Panda Bear as well.

 

- Low, Drums and Guns

- LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver

 

- Radiohead, In Rainbows

Even the tracks that seem a little scuffed up have hooks that can dig into your skin (the cresting strings that close "All I Need", the zigzagging guitar interplay in "Jigsaws Falling Into Place"), but it's the tracks that owe clear debts to other genres that are the real eye-openers: soul in "Reckoner", McCartney-esque symphonic folk in "Faust Arp", dub in the surprisingly sexed up "House of Cards." The opener shows that Thom and co. can still seamlessly integrate electronic music into their work, but the rest of the album brings the listener to a more important conclusion: Radiohead can make a pop album, with "pop" having the same robust context that once applied to the word when some group called The Beatles roamed the earth. And if the mere possibility that "House of Cards" could land on Jennifer Garner's workout playlist disturbs you, then you may be cheating yourself out of an album that is closer to the Holy Radiohead Triumvirate than you'd think on the first playthrough.

(Secret Album Reviewer's Note! Assign bonus points if you haven't heard the superior live take on "Videotape", or if you haven't heard any of the various and sundry bootlegs for "Big Ideas (Don't Get Any)".)

 

Still Pretty Good:

- White Stripes, Icky Thump

 

- The National, Boxer

You can't see the cultural saturation? Maybe I just happen to frequent a remarkably savvy hardware store. Nevertheless, this one's a keeper, even if it takes more than a couple of listens for the literary nature of the lyrics to set in. I'd say that they sound like Tindersticks if they decided to be a rock band, but that would probably just piss people off.

 

- Deerhunter, Cryptograms

- Exploding Star Orchestra, We Are All From Somewhere Else

- Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha

 

Eh:

- The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible

You ever get the sense that the Arcade Fire are like Daffy Duck and Funeral is the trick that they can only do once? People that were disappointed with the album struggled to quantify exactly why that is, pointing to Springsteen and different (and perhaps overblown) arrangement techniques, but I think the root cause is simple enough - the songwriting just sucks a bit this time around. That being said, I do like the Black songs - "Black Mirror", "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" - and the second look at "No Cars Go" is a definite highlight, but most of the rest of the album drags where it should soar, fizzles where the band was once explosive, and fails to bring about any sense of the catharsis that made Funeral such a memorable album.

 

- Battles, Mirrored

I really want to like this one and I'll admit that the highpoints hold their own well enough - "Race In", "Tonto", and "Atlas" (which takes a while to get past, thanks to the fact that the song unabashedly rips off the groove behind "The Beautiful People") are definitely worth checking out - but so much of the rest of what's on here could be snipped out of the album without anybody even missing it. There's a reason this band has stuck with EPs throughout their whole career up to this point.

 

- Menomena, Friend And Foe

- Blind Cave Salamander, Blind Cave Salamander

- Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

 

Bleh:

- Amiina, Kurr

- Band of Horses, Cease to Begin

- Minus the Bear, Planet of Ice

 

- Bright Eyes, Cassadaga

Conor Oberst is an unfortunate paradox - the overbearing ego and pervasive condescension are probably as crucial to his artistic process as they are destructive to the end results. Ah, well. Sure, "The Brakeman Turns My Way" is especially bad, but at least he's not staging in-album interviews with himself anymore.

 

- A Place To Bury Strangers, A Place To Bury Strangers

 

Dear God No:

- Apples in Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder

A new revolution in songcraft - falling asleep on your electric piano after hitting the Tuning button. Non-Pythagorean Scale my ass. The rest of the album rips off ELO, though, so I guess it's not a complete disaster.

 

- Smashing Pumpkins, Zeitgeist

How many times can you attempt (and somehow, unbelievably, fail) at rewriting "Zero"? And you say there's a ten minute dirge called "United States"? The Statue of Liberty's standing amidst a sea of blood? Somebody smash a television with a cricket bat.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

Six Organs of Admittance - Shelter from the Ash

More like Shelter From My Ass! Oh, who am I, Mark Prindle? It's actually a pretty good post-rock deal, with lots of varied and layered guitar work. Sometimes it reminds me of Radiohead. I like it, but I don't think it stands up to Blind Cave Salamander, and it's not like I'm a better person because I heard it. It's cool, though, pick it up.

[snuffbox 0]

The new Pumpkins' isn't that bad but I agree it's pretty far from AOTY considerations.

[Copper Feel 0]

Oh, who am I, Mark Prindle?

 

Requires more references to demeaning sexual acts and not even tangetically related rants against the president.

 

I have not heard any albums that were released this year, btw.

[Ginger Snaps 0]

One vote for Devendra.

 

Great album.

 

I think I hate him and the whole neo-folk sound.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

Albums I've heard from this year

 

Paul McCartney: Memory Almost Full Not great. Some good songs, but no classics. 2/5

 

Nick Lowe: At My Age Very enjoyable to listen to. Sorta laidback album. 3/5

 

Rilo Kiley: Under the Blacklight I was very disappointed with this. 1.5/5

 

The Fall: Reformation Post TLC Absolutely a solid record; a very good live sound. Sometimes overly long, but good overall. 3.5/5

 

Therefore The Fall are winning so far.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

What should I listen to now to be up to speed?

 

Edit: I have lots of time.

[luke-o 0]

I haven't bought a lot of albums this year, but out of the ones I did buy:

 

Kate Nash - Made of Bricks

Gossip - Standing In The Way of Control

Clutch - From Beale Street to Oblivion

Sonic Boom Six - Ruff Guide to Genre Terrorism

 

And I supose Hadouken!'s half hour mixtape, but can't really count that as an album, and it's not all that great.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

Is Kate Nash another Lily Winehouse bitch? Why does your country keep cranking out these awful women? I still haven't forgiven you for Lady Sovereign.

[Black Lushus 0]

How can you hate someone as obviously hardcore as Lady Sovereign?

[luke-o 0]

Is Kate Nash another Lily Winehouse bitch?

 

She is, but she's actually really good. Seriously, check out We Should Get On and Marriella.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I thought the newest Fall was wretched. Smith's Von Sudenfed project with Mouse on Mars was much better.

[At Home 0]

One vote for Devendra.

 

Great album.

 

I think I hate him and the whole neo-folk sound.

 

I think I hate you and your whole neo-folk sound.

 

 

How do you like that?

 

 

 

Listen to seahorse (song). It's not neo-folk at all.

[At Home 0]

Dinosaur Jr - Beyond

 

Love love love love love this album. It's not gratuitous and jam-bandy like you'd expect.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Why would I expect a Dinosaur Jr album to be "jam-bandy?"

[Ginger Snaps 0]

One vote for Devendra.

 

Great album.

 

I think I hate him and the whole neo-folk sound.

 

I think I hate you and your whole neo-folk sound.

 

 

How do you like that?

 

 

 

Listen to seahorse (song). It's not neo-folk at all.

 

I heard Little Yellow Spider the other day and it made me nauseous.

 

[At Home 0]

Seahorse and Little Yellow Spider are apples and oranges, dude. I'm not kidding. Seahorse sounds more like a Doors song than it does a Devendra song.

 

Anyways, throwing another into the runnings:

 

Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs

Good To Sea speaks for the whole album. Perfectly sculpted, catchy, baskets of hooks, totally foot-tappable.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

The new Sunset Rubdown is pretty nifty but I'm not sure where it's going to end up on the list when all is said and done. I'd still put it up there as a candidate though.

[At Home 0]

Minus The Bear - Planet Of Ice

 

I totally forgot about this guy. My favorite album of the year. Cancel all the other ones.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

Will probably end up being In Rainbows.

I'm sticking with Sky Blue Sky.

[Henry Spencer 0]

I think I might have to go with Marry Me by St. Vincent. Fantastic little record, that.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

Nellie McKay - Obligatory Villagers

 

Only half as long as her first two albums, which was a disappointment at first. Some of the satire is too broad, especially on "Mother of Pearl." It's stupid and gay in its execution. "Identity Theft" is like dixieland ska, "Galleon" is sea chanty disco klezmer, and I like the lyrics, but the call-and-response between Nellie and the male voices that pervades this song, and others on the album, is such a sledgehammer of symbolism that I have a lump on my head. I'll pretend "Livin'" didn't happen. As always, the musicianship is excellent, the composition is varied and inspired, but it's a little ham-fisted in the lyrical department.

 

Oh, and the horns on the beginning of "Testify" are so cool. Perry Mason-esque. The whole song sounds great, really.

[snuffbox 0]

Yeah, I'm going with In Rainbows. I doubt the new Neil Young will top it next week, though it should be pretty good judging from the older tracks.

 

Ali's The Truth is my number two.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

Man, this LCD Soundsystem is great like damn. Just the first track alone is like Bowie, Eno, Kraftwerk, all rolled into one and unlike Kraftwerk, which tends to be a little tinny, is just so full and booming. It really makes me want to dance, but you know, I can't, because I'm me, so I can just kinda nod and move my head around. "North American Scum" is the weak song of the lot, because that lyric "you think we're from England, we're like...no" is so dopey. The rest of it is fantastic, though, an almost-perfect fusion of rock and electronic. Big thumbs up for this one.

 

I'd say that they sound like Tindersticks if they decided to be a rock band, but that would probably just piss people off.

My impression was Interpol + Tindersticks. They've got the whole Dark Sophisticated New York Rock Band thing down well enough, and they may not even be from New York at all! I don't know offhand so I'd have to check Wikipedia! The album was pretty good, by the way.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Czech, which is better: "Someone Great" or "All My Friends."

[Copper Feel 0]

Isn't "All My Friends" that Franz Ferdinand song? I strongly dislike that song and hope it is not featured on their next album.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Isn't "All My Friends" that Franz Ferdinand song? I strongly dislike that song and hope it is not featured on their next album.

Even if this is a joke, I'm simply not going to take anything you say seriously from now on.

[The Man in Blak 0]

They've got the whole Dark Sophisticated New York Rock Band thing down well enough, and they may not even be from New York at all!

 

Well, you're close.

 

[Copper Feel 0]

Isn't "All My Friends" that Franz Ferdinand song? I strongly dislike that song and hope it is not featured on their next album.

Even if this is a joke, I'm simply not going to take anything you say seriously from now on.

 

I found it when searching for them on Soulseek, cover song or namesake of a far superior tune?